Help. I can't stop eating...
Baking vegan is not as difficult as I initially thought. Or to put it another way, I'm surprised every time how good and equally convincing vegan baked goods can be. The best example is my hazelnut chocolate cake - it's full of flavors, moist and outrageously chocolaty. Important: always use the best ingredients you can get, it's worth it.
P.S. The ganache recipe of course also works with cream from cow's milk.
Ingredients for a springform pan 24 cm Ø:
- 200 gr ground hazelnuts
- 240 gr wheat flour (405 or 550)
- 190 gr sugar (preferably cane sugar)
- 3 cl vanilla extract with vodka (or 1 cl bought vanilla extract)
- 30 gr cocoa powder
- 100 ml baking oil
- 220 ml oat milk
- 20 ml lemon juice
- 1 pinch of salt
- 1 pkg baking powder
Ingredients for the chocolate ganache:
- 300 gr chocolate (70%)
- 300 ml vegan cream
- 50 gr powdered sugar
- 1 heaped tbsp vegan soft butter
Ingredients for the vanilla extract (vodka) - must be flavored at least 2 weeks in advance:
- 500 ml vodka
- 2 whole vanilla beans
Instructions: Cut vanilla beans in half lengthwise and put into the vodka bottle.
Close the bottle tightly again. Shake the vanilla vodka well every 3 days.
After about 2 weeks, the extract can be used. However, it tastes even more intense with each additional week.
For the cake decoration, you can use anything that tastes good and brings you joy. For even more chocolate, the ganache recipe can be extended by half and thus land in the piping bag as chocolate florets on the cake.
Bake the cake base:
First, heat the oven to 180 degrees convection. Then, in a bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and quickly blend with the oil, lemon juice and oat milk. A simple whisk will do for this.
Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan (please line with baking paper and / or grease) and bake for about 40 min until done. After 35 minutes, test the cake with a wooden stick. As soon as the dough is no longer sticking, let the cake cool on a cake rack.
Prepare the ganache:
Finely grate or chop the chocolate. Bring the cream and powdered sugar to the boil in a saucepan and pour the hot mixture over the chocolate.
Whisk the chocolate chips into the cream mixture to form a smooth ganache and then stir in the softened butter.
Place cling film directly on top of the warm ganache and allow to cool at room temperature for about 2 hours. After that it should be spreadable. If you want it to go faster, you can chill the ganache in the refrigerator. Make sure that the ganache does not become too solid, otherwise it cannot be further processed (frequent stirring is required).
Assemble the cake:
Divide the cooled base into two equal-sized bases using a cake base divider (or even a knife). Place the bottom cake layer on a cake plate and spread with 1/3 of the ganache. Then place the top cake layer on top and press down lightly.
Now spread the remaining ganache all around the cake and decorate as desired.
Shortly cooled, the chocolate cake is ready to be eaten.
Have fun baking and decorating!
xx Dipika
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